CC BY
17
UDC 372.8 DOI: 10.14526/2070-4798-2022-17-4-165-170
Trends of educational technologies in modern world
Alfiya N. Afzalova'2*
1Volga Region State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism,
Kazan, Russia 2Kazan National Research Technological University, Kazan, Russia ORCID 0000-0001-5502-9829, [email protected]
Abstract: The article is devoted to the urgent problem of blended learning using digital technologies. The author considers the features and advantages of such learning both for students and university teachers in general. The article shows the possibilities of using the electronic environment in terms of intramural form of study and extramural studies. Materials. The article discusses the main trends of educational digital technologies used in the educational process. Scientific novelty. An electronic course has been developed using end-to-end EdTech technologies for blended learning. Using EdTech technologies in blended learning lecturers can present material in new and exciting ways that motivate students to participate actively in the course study. Research methods. Information sources analysis, pedagogical observation. Results. We created an electronic course using digital technologies on "Sports metrology" discipline. It is used in blended learning for student-athletes. Practical significance. The created electronic "Sports Metrology" course, used for blended learning, will help students-athletes, who are at the training camp study independently the missed topics of the lessons at their own pace, fulfill tasks, check the correctness of fulfillment and help a teacher to track the achievements of students. Conclusion. In order to meet the needs of students, the learning process must be personalized. Using digital technologies in blended learning, teachers are processing more data than ever before. Knowing the relevant information about the students' experience, you can customize and present the course in a suitable format. Keywords: educational technologies, blended learning, Big Data, virtual reality, artificial intellect, gamification.
For citation: Alfiya N. Afzalova*. Trends of educational technologies in the modern world. Russian Journal of Physical Education and Sport. 2022; 17(4): 139-142. DOI: 10.14526/2070-4798-2022-17-4-165-170.
Introduction
Big Data, artificial intellect, virtual and augmented reality, blended learning became the greatest tendencies in the sphere of educational technologies in 2019-2022. Nowadays EdTech (Educational technology) is used at a higher education establishment for educational content creation, the effectiveness of educational process increase and educational process control.
Owing to technological innovations teachers, who use EdTech, transform traditional teaching according to books into digital form, in order to make teaching more effective, as in recent years one of the most vivid phenomena became the absence of students' interest in education. The advantages for students include the following: the opportunity for an individual learning, there appear more opportunities for cooperative work in auditoriums and new strategies, such as "flipped learning", when students get acquainted with the material of the course online and time during the lessons then is used for deeper understanding by means of discussion and problems solution with groupmates.
Educational technologies, also known as EdTech, belong to digital instruments use in an educational environment. They can vary from interactive boards, internet of things (IoT), artificial intellect (AI) till a virtual reality and everything that is between them.
Using EdTech technologies during the lessons teachers can give material in new and interesting ways. It will make students be active and take part in own education. EdTech can also offer an opportunity for cooperation and creativity, helping students to develop significant skills of the 21st century. Moreover, a teacher can provide personalized experience of education, as such technologies, as adaptive programs can adapt education to the needs and abilities of each student. In other words, educational technologies offer innumerable advantages. It makes them a valuable addition to any lesson.
We can say that EdTech is the process of technologies integration into education in order to create better experience of teaching. It leads to higher results of education.
Materials and methods
Let's consider 6 latest tendencies in the sphere of educational technologies, which a person should know considering this topic.
1. Blended learning
We will understand blended learning as an approach. It combines different formats of intramural and distance interaction between students, lecturers and educational resources. In most cases it means that students spend some part of time studying in auditorium and some part of time online, synchronously or asynchronously.
Blended learning needs more responsibility, as it demands less direct orders of a lecturer and more teaching methods based on discoveries. Blended learning is the example of how students can control the definite elements of own education, deciding where and in what tempo they will master the studied discipline. Adaptive teaching is similar to blended learning, as it helps students to make decisions concerning such things as time frameworks and the way of studying. Technology of adaptive learning gathers information about students' behavior, when they answer the questions of the studied topic and then use this information for a quick feedback in order to correct the process of education. Educational instruments with an adaptive sequence constantly analyze the information concerning students on-line real time and make decisions quickly on the basis of these results [1]. Adaptive learning technology automatically changes the things that follow (content of the other order of skills) depending on the way the student fulfills the tasks.
2. Learning with the help of video
Video is used for quick explanation of the topic, tasks, work demonstration with some software program, for example, Excel. Video helps students to learn the sequence of the steps during the definite procedures fulfillment, during work on the task and in problem solution. Students can watch the video in any place and any time, they can watch any part of the video, make pauses and watch as many times as they want. It creates an effective environment for independent learning. Video can be used for many educational tasks realization, including topic introduction, concept review, discussion and skills mastering.
3. Big Data
In research works of sport industry method of statistical analysis is usually used for sports data sets handling. Analyzing some statistical characteristics of sports data sets, such as mean value, dispersion, entropy and maximal/minimal value, scientists can study the model of an athlete's movement and on this statistical analysis coaches can create an effective plan of training lessons [4].
We study the instrument for an intellectual analysis of sport data. It helps to improve technique and tactics of competitive kinds of sport analysis. For example, analyzing statistical data of technical movements, used by the opponent during the competition, we can predict the behavior of the opponent in order to make an effective plan of reaction. The technique of Big data analysis can use different algorithms for statistical calculation of big data and for significant analytical data revelation in order to satisfy real needs. For example, in the sphere of competitive sport the technology of big data analysis can help coaches and athletes to analyze the previous training and sport behavior during the competitions and also define movement and physical state of an athlete and correct the training activity of athletes for their competitiveness increase. Moreover, the technology of big data analysis can help coaches and athletes to understand strong and weak points of an opponent in order to achieve perfect results in scale competitions.
Though statistical analysis technologies play significant role in big data study in sport, with sport industry and big data technologies development, more often such technologies, as computerized learning, intellectual analysis of data and predictive analysis are used in research works of sports data.
4. Artificial intellect (AI)
With artificial intellect coaches can get help from analysts. They can estimate the definite qualities of the players and the way these qualities can be used in a team. AI will also help to define, how an athlete can improve own results. Speaking about the opponent, AI can analyze tactics and patterns of the other team in a way that a human eye can't. It can help coaching staff to create a clear plan of the game. Some coaches already use AI for these purposes and get results.
Moreover, AI will help a coach to reveal the talents. Scouting and recruitment earlier were subjective enough, but now AI can be used for the potential of talents estimation. Ai will also be especially useful with the indices. It can't be defined precisely by people.
5. Gamification
Gamification is a very powerful instrument of motivation. Gamification means game mechanics use in non-game environment in order to motivate activity and influence behavior. The aim is to make somebody do something, involving a person into the process.
Game mechanics and game dynamics can be used in terms of any environment and any person. Their aim is to cause motivation and spark the interest in activity. Gamification is widely used in different spheres- starting from sport to health protection, leisure and education. Inner motivation
is an inner desire to do something because of the objective itself, without any outer reward. Inner motivation is considered as an integral part of the self-determination theory.
It is simple to create own teaching games. The advantage is in the fact that during this process you can use own real existing materials and gamificate real objects from a real life.
Sport is and will be on the top of many new applications connected with sensors. Sensors and wearables are everywhere and have a great influence on our life. Many people nowadays use Fitbit, Garmin or Nike watches for heart rate, body temperature estimation, respiration, amount of steps, distance calculation. They help to see what happens with the body. New applications help both professional athletes and amateurs. Apart from gathering information concerning health indices, such applications can also gather information connected with an athlete's productivity and the ways to improve it. They can help to define the training loads, health state, the level of tiredness, stress, possible injuries and even psychic state.
Sensors are used in sports equipment, such as balls, golf clubs, bats and etc.. They can measure everything: speed of rotation, strikes coefficients, power of the strike and etc.
Gamification became extremely popular because of constantly increasing value of technologies. Technology can combine communities, makes important game elements distribution easier, such as the system of points calculation, rating lists, virtual goods and stimuli. As we like to play games, these games increase the possibility of the fact that we will repeat them. It means that games motivate people repeat and improve behavior. As there is always some reward people make efforts in order to get it. This element is significant, as it can create loyalty and constant adherence.
6. Immersive learning with the help of VR
Virtual reality has innumerable advantages in sports trainings. They give players an opportunity to master their skills without any risks and danger of real competitions. Coaches and athletes widely use virtual reality for realistic training environment creation in any place. Football, basketball and baseball training classes in virtual reality become usual phenomenon owing to evident advantages of technology.
One of the main advantages of virtual reality in sport trainings is mobility. Any gym or an empty room can quickly become a modern space for trainings with the help of virtual reality.
Virtual reality in sport trainings also helps coaches to gather significant indices for the results of a player improvement in real life. Coaches can gather important data concerning a player's timing, reactions, body movements, eyes movements and
decisions making. It will be impossible to trace without computerized environment.
For example, teaching baseball in virtual reality gives an opportunity to visualize the striking zone and see, where they were late or too early. These results can be necessary if we want to define where the player succeeds and where he needs some practice and improvement. This technology can be used in combination with other applications and programs for reasonable decisions making concerning an athlete's results.
Moreover, using virtual reality in sport trainings coaches and managers can trace the initial user data, for example, who fulfills exercises and how often. It can give information concerning everything, beginning with the starting lineup to the trainings correction in order to avoid the state of overtraining of muscles groups.
Results and discussion
In order to create mixed courses it is reasonable to use Moodl system. It has varied instruments for tests creation, tasks creation, teaching and control testing organization and in order to check tasks fulfillment. Moodl gives many functions. It makes tests handling easier. There is the mechanism of semiautomatic results recalculation for the tests correction by a teacher after the students fulfill it. The system contains developed means of statistical analysis of tests results and the difficulties of the separate testing questions for students. "Task" element helps a teacher to set objectives. They demand from students answer preparation in an electronic form (in any format) and loading it into server.
Many students of the University study according to an individual time-table being in sports camps or competitions, sometimes students take part in competitions as judges or organizers. It leads to the fact that they miss lessons. In "Sports metrology" discipline such students have the conditions of individual practical tasks are in Moodl system. For each practical work there is the algorithm of fulfillment and a video file with tasks discussion and the work with the main statistical functions in Excel program. After the task fulfillment students check the received data with the help of the test, which offers them to choose the variant of an answer. If statistical results are found correctly and the analysis is fulfilled correctly, then a student gets 1 point. If the task is fulfilled partially, then a student gets less than 1 point, which makes him return to work, find mistakes and review theoretical part. We include the element of gamification into educational process, where for the first shear test specimen fulfillment (the 1st level of the game) a student should pass the test one more time, checking the received results of 7 first works. It helps to remember the studied
material and get 20 points for work. If the amount of the received points is less, then there is a mistake in calculations or conclusions and it should be corrected. For the second shear test specimen the rest of the works are checked and 20 points should be received.
The results for handling can be received with the help of digital devices, for example, if each group gets the following task: We measured HR (heart rate) in the group before and after warming-up with the help of fitness- bracelet. The results should be included into Google Sheets (Table_HR_BEFORE, Table _HR_AFTER). With the help of Student t-test for the dependent samplings in Google Table estimate the effectiveness of warming-up according to HR index. Measure the power of the strike and the power of "Smart ball" "Adidas miCoach Smart Ball" rotation in a group. After the blow on the ball is fulfilled the corresponding sensors transfer necessary information to mobile devices by means of wireless communications. Write the results of the blow power on the ball into general table of Google Sheets (Table "Power of a blow"). With the help of Google Table find arithmetic mean value, dispersion, standard deviation, standard error and calculate the coefficient of results variations of the power of the blow on the ball measuring. "Smart ball" gives recommendations how to blow on the ball, which helps to realize an expert evaluation.
During gamification we have focus transfer from the external motivation owing to game dynamics, mechanics and components to work with inner motivation owing to game approach use to routine processes.
Condusion
New technologies and new models of teaching are interesting and give new opportunities for the students, but also demand constant IT-support. While educational establishments continue to master these tendencies of digital transformation, we should take into account the current paradigm of teaching the technologies and transfer to team approach. In terms of students' needs increase the reaction to these needs should also increase. When teachers have information concerning educational
processes of students, they can improve knowledge and skills of own students, for example, they can see which type of information (text, image, animated graphics or video) students like most of all and use more often during the following lessons. Moreover, teachers can notice, which parts of knowledge were not mastered effectively and improve these parts. Analytics of education helps lecturers to reveal the groups of students. They can have academic or behavioral problems. Taking into consideration mentioned above facts lecturers can create the way of helping students to reveal own potential.
In order to satisfy the needs of students, the process of education should be personalized. Using digital technologies in blended learning, lecturers handle more data, than ever earlier. Having the corresponding information concerning the experience of students we can orient and present the course in a suitable format.
References
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Submitted: 20.11.2022 Author's information:
Alfiya N. Afzalova - Candidate of Pedagogics, Associate Professor, Volga region State University of Physical Culture, Sport and Tourism, 420010, Republic of Tatarstan, Kazan, Universiade village, House 35, e-mail: [email protected]
